The Secret Potato Wars
Is there anything better than a hamburger with fries? This is the meal that I eat most often and normally I am going to fast food restaurants to get it. I don’t eat a lot of home cooking and the fast food restaurants prepare most of my meals. I’m sure there are others that eat a lot of meals that consist of only a burger with fries; since they are so many fast food restaurants that have these two items as their main sellers. I know many people think McDonalds was built on its burgers, but it’s actually the fries at McDonalds that have been their big seller. The people from McDonalds realize the value of their fries and it’s not just a side item for them. They take many steps to insure that their fries get prepared properly and from their point of view, the burgers are their side items.
The reason Burger King, Wendys, Hardees, and other popular hamburger places haven’t been as successful as McDonalds is because of the fries. These other places have focused on the burgers and they just added their fries as a side item to the menu. McDonalds has taken their focus off of the burgers and used the fries as their driving force that keeps millions coming in each week to eat at their place.
Some people see all hamburgers the same and really don’t see a big difference in fast food restaurants. The people that do recognize the differences in burgers are also the ones that can determine which fries are the best too. Other hamburger places haven’t worked on bringing in a quality tasting fry yet; so they continue to switch-up the making of their burgers and other sandwich items. You don’t have to look at the sandwich and improve it for most of these places, because it’s not really the factor that gets the consumers in to eat. The little things can be big and this is really true when it comes to the fries at each fast food restaurant. You can even see by the picture above that the burger is the main attraction and the fries just sit in the background. It’s that background that can make the difference; when it comes to fast food restaurants that mainly sell burgers and fries. The flavor has never been about the burger, but the flavor of the fries is what we really want. You probably don’t even think of the fries that much, but the majority of us are choosing to eat at McDonalds more than the rest of the places that can sell you a hamburger with fries.
KFC has done well with their potato wedges and these do give McDonald restaurants a run for their money. In this case it comes down to people choosing what they want to eat for their lunch or dinner. You either want fried chicken or you want a good hamburger. Since KFC doesn’t sell burgers; McDonalds doesn’t have to worry about their potato wedges; which some people might like more than the famous McDonald fries.
How do you win this fast food game? The people from KFC could help their business out by adding a simple hamburger to the menu. This would allow customers to still get their famous fried chicken, but would allow the burger lovers to get an order of potato wedges with their hamburger. This might not be too easy to accomplish, since they were built on the chicken and not the cow.
However, McDonalds could give a tremendous boost to their sales each day, if they ever decided to add potato wedges to their menu. They would still need to keep their famous fries in place, but shouldn’t be too hard for them to start selling old fashion potato wedges to their customers. The places like Burger King and Wendy’s could also make a move in this direction and help their potatoes become a factor in the secret potato war that is going on with McDonalds and everyone else selling fries.
Which restaurant would you like to see selling old fashion potato wedges the most?
A. McDonalds
B. Wendys
C. Burger King
D. Hardees
E. Other
For those of you that have a Sonic fast food restaurant in your area, then you have the choice of tater tots or fries. If I was unable to beat another restaurant to the old fashion potato wedges idea; then I could cut some of my losses by adding tater tots to the menu. I do think many of these restaurants are missing out on sales, because they don’t offer a variety of ways to order the potatoes.
Arbys has been playing around with their menu some and they use to offer 3 ways to get potatoes. None of these ways was the old fashion potato wedges, but you could get curly fries, home-style fries, or their potato cakes which is a lot like hash browns. There aren’t a lot of places to get curly fries these days and this would be another good move for the big chains that sell burgers and fries. McDonalds is sitting in the driver’s seat now, so they don’t have to do anything. If McDonalds does ever add old fashion potato wedges, tater tots, or curly fries to their menu; they would really create more distance between them and everyone else selling burgers and fries. The secret to the hamburger is the fries and it seems McDonalds is the only fast food company that has noticed this.